Sean Duffy: “Those of us in this institution talk a lot about how America is a nation of laws. But unfortunately, a recent decision…”

“Those of us in this institution talk a lot about how America is a nation of laws. But unfortunately, a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that, while we are a nation of laws, we are not a nation of rules. At least not if you are a Federal worker. My amendment would prohibit the use of funds made available in the underlying bill with respect to Rainey v. Merit System Protection Board. Allow me to explain the case and why it's relevant to the bill before us today. Dr. Timothy Rainey is a State Department employee who, while serving as a contracting officer in 2013, was ordered by his supervisor to violate the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Dr. Rainey refused, and in doing so he was removed from his duties. When Dr. Rainey invoked the ``right-to-disobey'' provision of the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Merit Systems Protection Board ruled that the law only protects him from refusing to violate Federal laws, but not rules or regulations. On June 7th, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld this ruling. So what does this mean, Mr. Speaker? I chair the Financial Services Oversight Subcommittee where we frequently get valuable tips from Federal whistleblowers about questionable and illegal activities at Federal agencies. This ruling will have the effect of taking away their protections to stand up to bad actors in the Federal workforce. Let's not forget that our rules and regulations are supposed to be derived from law.…”